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Thursday, 31 January 2013

There is a little known psychological syndrome which is common among some Christian brothers and sisters of the Baptist denomination, or other varieties of Protestants, known as A.R.A.S.

A.R.A.S. begins, as I understand from sufferers, about the age of reason. It is connected vaguely to the "Home Alone" movies which some of these brethren saw at impressionable ages. Children wake in the middle of the night in cold sweats, listening for small noises in the dark.

This syndrome causes others to play horrible jokes on the sufferers, jokes which exacerbate the illness.

These jokes involve laying a set of clothing, sock and shoes on the ground, dramatically drawing out one of the fears connected to the syndrome.

The full name of the anxiety-driven syndrome, which can only be cured by conversion to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church is After the Rapture Anxiety Syndrome.
The intense fear and concurrent anxietyis caused by the overwhelming belief that one has been left behind after the rapture.

I have talked with former sufferers of this horrible fear and the anxieties of damnation and loneliness, who explained to me that only their conversion to Catholicism and the awareness that the Rapture was a Protestant aberration of truth-a heretical position-relieved them of the pain.

Sometimes, a teddy bear companion helped relieve symptoms. The cure is much more drastic. Total conversion.

A pastor from a church far way told a friend of mine that if he talked about contraception from the pulpit, he would lose most of his congregation. Why not? Why is he afraid of challenging his parish with the Truth? Is this a numbers game for him? Does he understand that his silence is consent and leads to the loss of faith and even souls?

I am writing about contraception because I have been in conversation with some people about this issue this week.

The number of contracepting Catholics remains one of the most serious statistics of our times.

I am not referring to non-Catholics in these statistics. Only Catholics. For the Millennial Catholics, this means that the vast majority of people who are in their parishes will not be practicing Catholics. To contracept is to be in serious sin. What does this mean for the local communities, for socializing, for bringing up your children among those who have, basically, lost their faith?

What does it mean for those who are trying to live by the teachings of the Church and do NFP? Where is their support? How do these good and faithful young couples develop great friendships when the marriages are not based on the same principals and ideals?

I do not doubt these statistics, as my experience talking with women is that the vast majority do contracept. I do not doubt these statistics having worked in RCIA for years and knowing that this topic was the big stumbling block for so many couples coming into the Church.

I have to admit, that the older women who have contracepted all their married life are the most difficult with whom to discuss this issue. They get angry and defensive. They are convinced contraception will eventually be accepted by the Church.

They are not open. If they were open, they would be willing to discuss all the aspects.

“Data for the report come from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), which gathered information on contraceptive use from a nationally representative sample of women,” the Guttmacher Institute stated in “Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use.” “Our analysis focuses on women who identify as Catholic, Mainline Protestant and Evangelical Protestant and includes information about attendance at religious services and religiosity.”

Among the report’s findings-- all of which refer to women of reproductive age (15-44):

25% describe themselves as Catholic, 25% as evangelical, and 22% as mainline Protestant

Religion News Service, quoted on another site, here linked, has an article on the Pope's new comment on annulments Now, when I worked for three parishes in RICA, as the coordinator and speaker, as well as group leader, it was clear, working with the priests, that many people seeking annulments were confused on the use of the term immaturity. Immaturity has never been a canonically given reason for annulments Never. If judicial boards were deciding this as a cause, they were, simply wrong, as one can grow out of immaturity. It is not, unless a mental condition or personality disorder, a permanent cause. Those mental or psychological conditions are impediments to marriage. The inability to make a commitment must be based on something other than immaturity,Most people on the day of their marriage are somewhat immature about what the sacrament really is all about. Many of our parents (and I mean those of the Greatest Generation-the parents of the Baby Boomers) got married very young. My dad was 24 and my mom was 19, albeit six days short of 20. Dad turned 25 a few months later.Age has nothing to do with immaturity. Some people are mature at 20 and some immature at 36.The conditions for annulment have been clear for years and years and years.If local chancery offices and diocesan boards misused their power in granting annulments then the Pope has the power and, indeed, necessity to change the canon law. But, canon law is not the problem. Interpretation has been sloppy.Thank God for this good Pope.The other HUGE elephant in the closet regarding Catholic marriages are the numbers of couples getting married in mortal sin and ergo, not receiving sanctifying grace in the sacrament, and sometimes, adding sin to sin.There are too many couples allowed to marry in the Church from a cohabitating relationship.Contraception, also a mortal sin, blocks the reception of sanctifying grace. i contend that many marriages fail as the couple did not receive grace and kept sinning going into marriage. No graces in the relationship leads the couple further and further away from God. Can He and does He intervene? Yes. But one must not presume. I know very good people who have converted from contracepting marriages. But, this is rare. They repented, and went to Confession and never sinned that sin again.In order for anyone to receive the grace of a sacrament, one must be in grace to receive grace, except for Confession and the last anointing. That sacrament must be offered by priests, and yes, even demanded, before a Catholic marriage takes place. If the couple have no intention of not contracepting, for example, that would constitute a bad Confession and ergo, no grace. God will not be mocked. He is not deceived.Be not deceived, God is not mocked.Galatians 6:7 DR

Repenting of contraception opens the door to new life in a marriage. Confession is necessary and salutary.Do not be afraid.And, if one of the two refuse to have children, lying, perhaps, before marriage, that is grounds for annulment. Being closed to life by will is an impediment. Those who take part in the sacrament of marriage must be open to life.Anything else is not only a false commitment before God and between each other, but a misunderstanding of one of the main purposes of marriage.Sadly, many priests have led couples astray on these points and condoned contraception between Catholic couples.God help those bad priests. They have weakened the Church.If you are contracepting, please pray and stop. You cannot enter into the journey towards God while doing so. Ladies, if a man wants you to move in with him before marriage, he does not love you. If he wants you to contracept, he does not love you. He only loves his own convenience and pleasure.

There has been, of late, too much grousing among some bloggers. Now, unless there is heresy, I think bloggers should rant and rave to their little old hearts' content. However, complaints or worse, misunderstandings, have become nasty.

I do not mind criticism, unless it is ad hominem, as that is really boring.

But, I do mind when the prophets and priests are being stoned, virtually.

I shall not go into detail, but there is a growing division among Catholic bloggers.

Now, I do not expect much from the liberals except complaints, but when so-called neo-con Catholics begin to throw the virtual stones at such as Voris, Fr. Z, and yes, little old me for being strong in the Faith and not compromising, well, I guess all I can say is that I am very glad to be in good company.

Recently, it was brought to my attention by a reader that some tweets against me were whizzing around twitterdom. I missed all of these, so I guess that is OK, and I shall not go out looking for such.

The anti-Voris camp has grown steadily and that group just does not get it that if Jeremiah were alive today, the complainers would absolutely HATE him.

So much for buried loincloths...

Unless those in the Church realize that there are many different types of gifts and that some people are prophets, who are supposed to stir up the conscience and cause a stir, well....

Jeremiah 131The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.2I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on.3A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus:4Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Perath; hide it there in a cleft of the rock.5Obedient to the LORD’s command, I went to the Perath and buried the loincloth.6After a long time, the LORD said to me: Go now to the Perath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there.7So I went to the Perath, looked for the loincloth and took it from the place I had hidden it. But it was rotted, good for nothing!8Then the word came to me from the LORD:9Thus says the LORD: So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem.10This wicked people who refuse to obey my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and follow other gods, serving and worshiping them, will be like this loincloth, good for nothing.11For, as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me—oracle of the LORD—to be my people, my fame, my praise, my glory. But they did not listen.

I started a blog in March of 2007. I stopped writing that one in 2009. I took it off the Net.

In 2012, January, I started the blog up again. The reason why I started the first one was to continue discussions with students that could not be finished in the time given to me. Then, the 2008 election broke into the blog.

In 2012, I was responding to the need for catechesis on line, and for sharing insights for a younger generation.

In 2013, my goals are still the same. What I have done and what I shall do in the future is only for the up-building of the Catholic Church by teaching and strengthening Her members.

I have a deep and abiding love for the Church and Her People. I have a thirst for Truth and Love Who is a Person.

The exigencies of the day demand that we become strong, fast.

Strong in orthodoxy and our spiritual lives in order to survive and spread the Good News.....

CHAPTER XX – The sins that cry to Heaven for vengeanceQ. 925. HOW many such sins are there?A. Four.Q. 926. What is the first of them?A. Wilful murder, which is a voluntary and unjust taking away another’s life.Q. 927. How show you the depravity of this sin?A. Out of Gen. iv. 10. Where it is said to Cain “What hast thou done? the voice of the blood of thy brother crieth to me from the earth: now, therefore shalt thou be cursed upon the earth.” And Matt. xxvi 52, “All that take the sword, shall perish with the sword.”Q. 928. What is the second?A. The sin of Sodom, or carnal sin against nature, which is a voluntary shedding of the seed of nature, out of the due use of marriage, or lust with a different sex.Q. 929. What is the scripture proof of this?A. Out of Gen. xix. 13. where we read of the Sodomites, and their sin. “We will destroy this place because the cry of them hath increased before our Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them,” (and they were burnt with fire from heaven.)Q. 930. What is the third?A. Oppressing of the poor, which is a cruel, tyrannical, and unjust dealing with inferiors.Q. 931. What other proof have you of that?A. Out of Exod. xxii. 21. “Ye shall not hurt the widow and the fatherless: If you do hurt them, they will cry unto me, and I will hear them cry, and my fury shall take indignation, and I will strike thee with the sword.” And out of Isa. x. 1, 2. “Wo to them that make unjust laws, that they might oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people.”Q. 932. What is the fourth?A. To defraud working men of their wages, which is to lessen, or detain it from them.Q. 933. What proof have you of it?A. Out of Eccl. xxxiv. 37. “He that sheddeth blood and he that defraudeth the hired man, are brethren,” and out of James v. 4. “Behold the hire of the workmen that have reaped your fields, which is defrauded by you, crieth, and their cry hath entered into the ears of the Lord God of Sabbath.”

The University of Chicago Medical Center has announced plans to turn Ronald Reagan’s childhood home in Chicago into a parking lot for President Barack Obama’s library.The Commission on Chicago Landmarks previously denied the Gipper’s home landmark status in 2012, according to The Washington Times, and the university subsequently scheduled demolition to begin in January. Officials claim the home does not reach landmark status because it is not architecturally significant and the nation’s 40th president did nothing notable while living there.

The geniuses of this world, such as Steve Jobs and Ferdinand Porsche, worked not just for the day but for the furture. When, on June 8th, 1948, Mr. Porsche designed the two-seater 356, he also was drawing the prototypes for all Porsches up to the present day.

The 911 was created in 1963, but the concepts of what a car should be had been established. The genius was to create a car for those who may not know what a car can do, but should do.
Steve Jobs was the same at Apple, and thought ahead of the game, as it were, to create a machine which would appeal to people who did not even realize all a computer could do.

God did the same thing. While Christ was on earth, He created the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. Those first men did not realize all the Church would be and should be, but Christ did.

He thought ahead of His People-of course, He is God.

But, we must do the same now. We must think ahead of what is happening in the world AND in our own interior lives in order to be prepared for the future.

Those who are not preparing will either be lost, confused, weak, or simply not able to help their neighbours.

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Wow article on the proof of God, which ends with this amazing quotation from Thomas Nagel. But, check out the entire article, please. I cannot reproduce it all here, but it is thought-provoking. And, the Rabbi has read Feser.

The theological philosopher Edward Feser has done a great job explaining this facet of the argument (and the argument as a whole) in his book "The Last Superstition." By way of analogy, he has the reader envision a hand which is holding a stick which is pushing a stone. Would it be accurate to suggest that the stick is pushing the stone? Not really, as the hand is doing the pushing. But what allows the hand to push in the first place? The arm, which in turn is dependent on the muscles which are dependent on cells which are dependent on molecular structure which is dependent on atomic structure which is dependent on the primary forces of gravitation, electro-magnetism and the weak and strong nuclear forces which are dependent on ... what? What we'll see is that even if there were an infinite series of contingent causes such as these, we would still need a final, un-caused cause to get the ball rolling. Without it, nothing could unfold as nothing would have started the process.

I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, hope that I am right in my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that. Thomas Nagel

Throughout my entire life, I have heard, especially in England, "Oh, do not be so divisive. The Catholic Church is so divisive."

Michael Voris talks this week about the fear of speaking the Truth. Those of us who have lost a job because we were whistle-blowers, before there were laws in some states protecting such, know what it is to be persecuted for the sake of Truth. Those of us who have chosen Truth over compromising sin, know what it is to be marginalized in a society which accepts compromise daily as a matter of course.

The call to be a member of the Church Militant happens on the day of our baptism.

We are either living our Faith, or we are compromising. Self-deceit is pretending one is a Catholic or a Christian and not following either the Ten Commandments or the Radical Gospel of dying to self.

More than fear as a great evil, the state of living in a hidden sin, allowing one to keep on sinning and not dealing with the predominant fault, keeps people from the Truth, Who is a Person.

Garrigou-Lagrange makes it clear in his book that we must deal with our predominant fault and it may not be what we think it is.

Christ has very strong words to say about this:

Revelation 3Douay-Rheims Bible

1 And to the angel of the church of Sardis, write: These things saith he, that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast the name of being alive: and thou art dead. 2 Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die. For I find not thy works full before my God. 3 Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast received and heard: and observe, and do penance. If then thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come to thee. 4 But thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments: and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy. 5 He that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.7 And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, write: These things saith the Holy One and the true one, he that hath the key of David; he that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth, and no man openeth:8 I know thy works. Behold, I have given before thee a door opened, which no man can shut: because thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will bring of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and adore before thy feet. And they shall know that I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of the temptation, which shall come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12 He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go out no more; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my new name. 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.14 And to the angel of the church of Laodicea, write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. 16 But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance.20 Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

The Eucharist, Christ's Body and Blood, revealed to us as the Real Presence, is to be honored and worshipped as the Sign of God in the World. We cannot confuse the Eucharist with the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church. Christ is the Head of the Church and we are the Members. He is Present to us in the Eucharist and the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity, which we receive in baptism.

To state that the Presence of Christ is the Body of Christ is to forget that He is the Head, and we the Members. Some of us are feet, some legs, some hands and so forth according to our gifts. The Church, created by Christ on earth, as an institution which is Holy, One, Apostolic, and Catholic, is a sign of Christ's Presence in the world for all ages.

The Eucharist is the Lord and the Lord causes the unity.

St. Paul explains that the Mystical Body of Christ is made up of those of us who are baptized and in the Church. Here is a section from Mystici Corporis, so that we can look at the definition of the Body of Christ as present and the Presence of the Eucharist. Remember that we belong to a visible Church not an invisible one. The Mystical Body of Christ is the Catholic Church and not the Christians outside of it. That is clear in the second section here.

14. That the Church is a body is frequently asserted in the Sacred Scriptures. "Christ," says the Apostle, "is the Head of the Body of the Church."[13] If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity, according to those words of Paul: "Though many we are one body in Christ."[14] But it is not enough that the Body of the Church should be an unbroken unity; it must also be something definite and perceptible to the senses as Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Satis Cognitum asserts: "the Church is visible because she is a body.[15] Hence they err in a matter of divine truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, a something merely "pneumatological" as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in their profession of faith, are untied by an invisible bond.

15. But a body calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are linked together in such a way as to help one another. And as in the body when one member suffers, all the other members share its pain, and the healthy members come to the assistance of the ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more perfect building up of the whole Body.

16. Again, as in nature a body is not formed by any haphazard grouping of members but must be constituted of organs, that is of members, that have not the same function and are arranged in due order; so for this reason above all the Church is called a body, that it is constituted by the coalescence of structurally untied parts, and that it has a variety of members reciprocally dependent. It is thus the Apostle describes the Church when he writes: "As in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office: so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another." [16]

22. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. "For in one spirit" says the Apostle, "were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free."[17] As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith.[18] And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. [19] It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.

and again...

40. But we must not think that He rules only in a hidden [59] or extraordinary manner. On the contrary, our Redeemer also governs His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on earth. You know, Venerable Brethren, that after He had ruled the "little flock" [60] Himself during His mortal pilgrimage, Christ our Lord, when about to leave this world and return to the Father, entrusted to the Chief of the Apostles the visible government of the entire community He had founded. Since He was all wise He could not leave the body of the Church He had founded as a human society without a visible head. Nor against this may one argue that the primacy of jurisdiction established in the Church gives such a Mystical Body two heads. For Peter in view of his primacy is only Christ's Vicar; so that there is only one chief Head of this Body, namely Christ, who never ceases Himself to guide the Church invisibly, though at the same time He rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth. After His glorious Ascension into Heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter, too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; [61] and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same.

41. They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it

and again,

65. For this reason We deplore and condemn the pernicious error of those who dream of an imaginary Church, a kind of society that finds its origin and growth in charity, to which, somewhat contemptuously, they oppose another, which they call juridical. But this distinction which they introduce is false: for they fail to understand that the reason which led our Divine Redeemer to give to the community of man He founded the constitution of a Society, perfect of its kind and containing all the juridical and social elements - namely, that He might perpetuate on earth the saving work of Redemption,[123] - was also the reason why He willed it to be enriched with the heavenly gifts of the Paraclete. The Eternal Father indeed willed it to be the "kingdom of the Son of his predilection;"[124] but it was to be a real kingdom in which all believers should make Him the entire offering of their intellect and will,[125] and humbly and obediently model themselves on Him, Who for our sake "was made obedient unto death."[126] There can, then, be no real opposition or conflict between the invisible mission of the Holy spirit and the juridical commission of Ruler and Teacher received from Christ, since they mutually complement and perfect each other - as do the body and soul in man - and proceed from our one Redeemer who not only said as He breathed on the Apostles "Receive ye the Holy Spirit,"[127] but also clearly commanded: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you;"[128] and again: "He that heareth you, heareth me."[129]

and most importantly, it is the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit which brings about this unity

78. For indeed We are not ignorant of the fact that his profound truth - of our union with the Divine Redeemer and in particular of the indwelling of the Holy spirit in our souls - is shrouded in darkness by many a veil that impedes our power to understand and explain it, both because of the hidden nature of the doctrine itself, and of the limitations of our human intellect. But We know, too, that from well-directed and earnest study of this doctrine, and from the clash of diverse opinions and the discussion thereof, provided that these are regulated by the love of truth and by due submission to the Church, much light will be gained, which, in its turn will help to progress in kindred sacred sciences. Hence, We do not censure those who in various ways, and with diverse reasonings make every effort to understand and to clarify the mystery of this our wonderful union with Christ. But let all agree uncompromisingly on this, if they would not err from truth and from the orthodox teaching of the Church: to reject every kind of mystic union by which the faithful of Christ should in any way pass beyond the sphere of creatures and wrongly enter the divine, were it only to the extent of appropriating to themselves as their own but one single attribute of the eternal Godhead. And, moreover, let all hold this as certain truth, that all these activities are common to the most Blessed Trinity, insofar as they have God as supreme efficient cause.

And here comes the point overlooked entirely by the author of the said pamphlet, which caused me to write these posts. Christ is the Head of the Body. We are the Body. One cannot say that the community of the Church equals the Presence of Christ the Head. Christ's Presence in the Church is that of the Bridegroom loving His Bride. The community is not some sort of cosmic Christ. God dwells within us through the sacraments and in that unity of the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity, we become one with God. We DO NOT become God.

81. It seems to Us that something would be lacking to what We have thus far proposed concerning the close union of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ with its Head, were We not to add here a few words on the Holy Eucharist, by which this union during this mortal life reaches, as it were, a culmination.

82. By means of the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ our Lord willed to give the faithful a striking manifestation of our union among ourselves and with our divine Head, wonderful as it is and beyond all praise. For in this Sacrifice the sacred minister acts as the viceregent not only of our Savior but of the whole Mystical Body and of each one of the faithful. In this act of Sacrifice through the hands of the priest, by whose word alone the Immaculate Lamb is present on the altar, the faithful themselves, united with him in prayer and desire, offer to the Eternal Father a most acceptable victim of praise and propitiation for the needs of the whole Church. And as the Divine Redeemer, when dying on the Cross, offered Himself to the Eternal Father as Head of the whole human race, so "in this clean oblation"[163] He offers to the heavenly Father not only Himself as Head of the Church, but in Himself His mystical members also, since He holds them all, even those who are weak and ailing, in His most loving Heart.

83. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is itself a striking and wonderful figure of the unity of the Church, if we consider how in the bread to be consecrated many grains go to form one whole,[164] and that in it the very Author of supernatural grace is given to us, so that through Him we may receive the spirit of charity in which we are bidden to live now no longer our own life but the life of Christ, and to love the Redeemer Himself in all the members of His social Body.

84. As then in the sad and anxious times through which we are passing there are many who cling so firmly to Christ the Lord hidden beneath the Eucharistic veils that neither tribulation, nor distress, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor persecution, nor the sword can separate them from His love,[165] surely no doubt can remain that Holy Communion which once again in God's providence is much more frequented even from early childhood, may become a source of that fortitude which not infrequently makes Christians into heroes.

85. If the faithful, Venerable Brethren, in a spirit of sincere piety understand these things accurately and hold to them steadfastly, they will the more easily avoid those errors which arise from an irresponsible investigation of this difficult matter, such as some have made not without seriously endangering Catholic faith and disturbing the peace of souls.

86. For there are some who neglect the fact that the Apostle Paul has used metaphorical language in speaking of this doctrine, and failing to distinguish as they should the precise and proper meaning of the terms the physical body, the social body, and the Mystical Body, arrive at a distorted idea of unity. They make the Divine Redeemer and the members of the Church coalesce in one physical person, and while they bestow divine attributes on man, they make Christ our Lord subject to error and to human inclination to evil. But Catholic faith and the writings of the holy Fathers reject such false teaching as impious and sacrilegious; and to the mind of the Apostle of the Gentiles it is equally abhorrent, for although he brings Christ and His Mystical Body into a wonderfully intimate union, he nevertheless distinguishes one from the other as Bridegroom from Bride.[166]

To distinguish between the Presence of Christ among His People and not to say that He is His People is a clear split with many post-Vatican II commentators.

And we love this Body:

92. But lest we be deceived by the angel of darkness who transforms himself into an angel of light,[178] let this be the supreme law of our love: to love the Spouse of Christ as Christ willed her to be, and as He purchased her with His blood. Hence, not only should we cherish exceedingly the Sacraments with which holy Mother Church sustains our life, the solemn ceremonies which she celebrates for our solace and our joy, the sacred chant and the liturgical rites by which she lifts our minds up to heaven, but also the sacramentals and all those exercises of piety by which she consoles the hearts of the faithful and sweetly imbues them with the Spirit of Christ. As her children, it is our duty, not only to make a return to her for her maternal goodness to us, but also to respect the authority which she has received from Christ in virtue of which she brings into captivity our understanding unto the obedience of Christ.[179] Thus we are commanded to obey her laws and her moral precepts, even if at times they are difficult to our fallen nature; to bring our rebellious body into subjection through voluntary mortification; and at times we are warned to abstain even from harmless pleasures. Nor does it suffice to love this Mystical Body for the glory of its divine Head and for its heavenly gifts; we must love it with an effective love as it appears in this our mortal flesh - made up, that is, of weak human elements, even though at times they are little fitted to the place which they occupy in this venerable body.

And for the Church Militant................................

106. Moreover, Christ proved His love for His spotless Bride not only at the cost of immense labor and constant prayer, but by His sorrows and His sufferings which He willingly and lovingly endured for her sake. "Having loved His own...He loved them unto the end."[208] Indeed it was only at the price of His Blood that He purchased the Church.[209] Let us then follow gladly in the bloodstained footsteps of our King, for this is necessary to ensure our salvation: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His Resurrection."[210] and "if we be dead with him, we shall live also with Him."[211] Also our zealous love for the Church demands it, and our brotherly love for the souls she brings forth to Christ. For although our Savior's cruel passion and death merited for His Church an infinite treasure of graces, God's inscrutable providence has decreed that these graces should not be granted to us all at once; but their greater or lesser abundance will depend in no small part on our own good works, which draw down on the souls of men a rain of heavenly gifts freely bestowed by God. These heavenly gifts will surely flow more abundantly if we not only pray fervently to God, especially by participating every day if possible in the Eucharistic Sacrifice; if we not only try to relieve the distress of the needy and of the sick by works of Christian charity, but if we also set our hearts on the good things of eternity rather than on the passing things of this world; if we restrain this mortal body by voluntary mortification, denying it what is forbidden, and by forcing it to do what is hard and distasteful; and finally, if we humbly accept as from God's hands the burdens and sorrows of this present life. Thus, according to the Apostle, "we shall fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in our flesh for His Body, which is the Church."[212]

This encyclical was written in 1943, at the blackest times of WWII. We can identify, today, with the problems, torments and even persecutions against the Body of Christ, for which we pray.

109. Before concluding, We cannot refrain from again and again exhorting all to love holy Mother Church with a devoted and active love. If we have really at heart the salvation of the whole human family, purchased by the precious Blood, we must offer every day to the Eternal Father our prayers, works and sufferings, for her safety and for her continued and ever more fruitful increase. And while the skies are heavy with storm clouds, and exceeding great dangers threaten the whole of human Society and the Church herself, let us commit ourselves and all that we have to the Father of Mercies, crying out: "Look down, we beseech Thee, Lord, on this Thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to be betrayed into the hands of evil men and to undergo the torment of the Cross."[215]

Leon Bloy

Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma

The Church Must Not Be Defensive

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Too many Church leaders do not think, or do not think as Catholics

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GUILD PRAYER

God our Father, source of life and freedom, through Your Holy Spirit you gave the Carmelite, Titus Brandsma the courage to affirm human dignity even in the midst of suffering and degrading persecution.

Grant us that same spirit so that, in refusing all compromise with error we may always and everywhere give coherent witness to Your abiding presence among us.